SA chaired the UN Security Council in October, focusing on themes such as Women and Security, Silencing The Guns by 2020, strengthening the UN’s relations with African regional organisations, conflict prevention, and organising debate on the Middle East and the Palestinian question.
SA also oversaw discussions on the renewal of the mandates of UN missions in Abyei, Darfur, Western Sahara, Libya and Haiti.
In addition, SA led the 15-member UN Security Council mission that convened in Addis Ababa for the annual meeting with the 15-member African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) last week.
Discussion focused on South Sudan, the Sahel, Central African Republic (CAR), Libya and Guinea-Bissau. There was urgency on both sides for the transitional government of national unity to be established in South Sudan by the November 12 deadline. On the Sahel, both sides expressed concern at the worsening security situation, and called for strengthening the UN mission in Mali, as well as the French-led Sahel force.
On CAR, both praised the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation, though instability continues to rack this militia-infested country. Both councils further expressed concern at the fragile political situation in Guinea-Bissau ahead of November 24 presidential polls, calling for support for the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States.
Based on the unhappy experience of a joint UN and AU special representative in Darfur, UN Security Council members rejected the AU PSC idea of a joint AU and UN special envoy in Libya. A thematic issue discussed was the AU campaign of Silencing the Guns by 2020. Both sides disagreed about the mechanism for sending joint field missions to conflict zones, with UN Security Council members complaining about the size and cost of deploying large missions.
About 85% of the UN’s 85,678 peacekeepers are deployed in 11 African theatres: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Mali, CAR, Darfur, Abyei, Western Sahara, Somalia, Libya, the Sahel, and Guinea-Bissau. SA is the 17th-largest contributor to UN peacekeeping with 1,162 troops, 97% of whom (1,137) are deployed in the Congo, while others are based in Darfur (19) and South Sudan (6). These three countries have thus been a major focus of SA’s efforts in the first year of its two-year tenure on the council.
In the Western Sahara, which Morocco annexed in 1975, SA has been one of the few consistent backers of the Algeria-based Polisario Front liberation movement, which has lost many of its former African supporters
SA has also been active this year on the Congo where most of its peacekeepers are deployed. With China and Russia, SA insisted on respect for the independence of Congolese national institutions during presidential and parliamentary polls in January. Council members now appear to have been won over by president Félix Tshisekedi’s efforts to work with the UN to promote regional stability. The security situation in eastern Congo remains dire, especially in the Kivus and Ituri, where 230,000 people have been displaced since June.
With Russia, China and Indonesia, SA has argued that the internal security situation in Darfur should determine UN troop levels. In South Sudan, SA has backed the AU position against punitive sanctions. In Abyei, SA, Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea — backed by Beijing and Moscow — have pushed back against US efforts to reduce the number of Ethiopian-led UN peacekeepers.
In the Western Sahara, which Morocco annexed in 1975, SA has been one of the few consistent backers of the Algeria-based Polisario Front liberation movement, which has lost many of its former African supporters. SA unsuccessfully pushed on the council for a human-rights monitoring mandate for this UN mission.
During its first year on the council in 2019, SA has worked closely with the two other African Council members, Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea, as well as Brics partners China and Russia. In 2020 it should also engage the US, Britain and France, as well as regional powers such as Germany and Indonesia that are drafting council resolutions.
In 2019, SA has avoided the controversies of its two earlier stints on the Security Council in 2007-2008 and 2011-2012, when it became embroiled in human rights disputes in Zimbabwe and Myanmar, as well as widely criticised actions in Ivory Coast and Libya.
• Adebajo is director of the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation.
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